God Visits Abraham

Passage:

Familiarize yourself with this passage:

Genesis 18:1-33
One day, while sitting under the shade of some great trees, Abraham received three very special visitors. (One of them was the Lord!) As Abraham served the visitors dinner, God told Abraham many things that were going to happen. One of those things was that Sarah was going to have a baby in one year. Sarah did not believe this could happen because both she and Abraham were so old, so she laughed to herself. But, God promised that it would be so. As he was leaving, God also told Abraham that he was going to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah because of all the wicked and evil that those people were doing. This greatly concerned Abraham because his nephew lot lived there. Several times Abraham questioned God about the number of good people that were in the cities. Finally God told Abraham that he would not destroy the cities if he found 10 good people in them, and then God left.

Object lesson:

Supplies needed:
• 50 of any small object (beads, pennies, marbles, etc…)
Directions:
When you start your story, spread your 50 items out on the floor in front of the kids. (Remind them not to touch, just watch.) When you get to the part of the story where Abraham asks if God will destroy the cities if he finds 50 righteous people, point out that you have 50 items on the floor. That is a lot! Continue through the story and as Abraham decreases the number, take away items from the floor. Finally you will have 10 items left. Ten is not very many, yet God was still willing to save Sodom and Gomorrah if he found only 10 good people there.

Memory Verse:

Genesis 18:13-14
Then the Lord said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

Jesus Connection:

1. Second Peter 1:4 says that Jesus has “given us his very great and precious promises.” When Jesus gives us his promise, we can be sure that he will carry through with that promise, no matter how high the odds are stacked against it! (2 Corinthians 1:20)
2. Jesus does not wish that any should perish, but that all should come to a saving knowledge of him. (Matthew 18:14) Jesus seeks us, because he desperately wants a relationship with us. However, if we continue to live in our sin, our sin must be punished, and the punishment for that sin is death (Proverbs 10:16; Romans 6:23) Great news is that God promises us eternal life through Jesus Christ!

Songs

“Father Abraham”

Father Abraham had many sons
Many sons had Father Abraham
I am one of them and so are you
So let’s all praise the Lord
Right arm!
….Left arm!
….Right foot!
….Left foot!
….Chin up!
….Turn around!
….Sit down!

“God is so Good”

God is so good.
God is so good.
God is so good,
He’s so good to me.

He answers prayer.
He answers prayer.
He answers prayer,
He’s so good to me

He loves us so.
He loves us so.
He loves us so,
He’s so good to me.

Games and Activities

Hospitality

Supplies Needed:
• Paper plates, napkins, cups, and plastic ware (enough for each child to have one set)
• Your snack for the day (perhaps something special you have prepared just for them!)
Directions:
1. Explain to the children that in Abraham’s days, if you had unexpected visitors, you had to be hospitable to them, no matter what time of day, or how many guests there were. Abraham was hospitable to his visitors by preparing a meal for them, from scratch! (He had to go out and kill his goat or cow before he could cook it!) Today everyone is going to learn one way to by hospitable by preparing the dinner table for lots of guests.
2. Have all the children stand around a table. Pass out all your dishes to as many kids as possible. Tell the children that they have to work together to make sure that everyone has a full set of dishes in front of them. Encourage them to make everyone’s place look nice.
3. After everyone’s place has been set, tell the children that this is one simple way they can help their mom and dad be hospitable when guests come for a visit.
4. Another way they can help is by serving the food! One at a time, have the children come to you to be served a snack. After their plate has been filled, encourage the child to find one of the other kids to serve. When they bring the snack plate to the next child, that child will take the full plate, set it down in front of them, and then take the empty plate to be filled and serve someone else. Repeat this process until all the children have had a chance to serve one another and everyone has a plate of snack.

Crafts

Abraham’s Family Tree

*This is a group craft!! This craft is intended to be done together as a group, and hung on a wall in your class room so that you can add to in future story times.
Supplies Needed:
• Several precut, generic paper doll people (just the body shapes; the kids will fill in the rest)
• Small strips of paper, big enough to write the Bible character names on
• Colored pencils/markers/crayons
• Tape (or another adhesive)
Directions:
1. Give each child a blank paper doll. Explain to the children that you will be creating Abraham’s family using these paper dolls.
2. Have some of the children draw girls, and have some of the children draw boys.
3. If they finish quickly, allow them to make more than one.
4. When everyone has made at least one paper doll, collect them all and bring the children back to your story area.
5. Select one of the boy paper dolls. Tape it to the wall.
6. Using a small strip of paper, write Abraham’s name on it. Attach it to the wall under Abraham.
7. Explain to the children that God continued to promise Abraham that his family would grow. One day it would be so large that he would not even be able to count everyone! Tell the children that each week, when you meet a new Bible character, you will place a new paper doll on the wall and you will watch Abraham’s family grow together.
8. Store the remainder of your paper dolls in a safe place until next week.
9. If you run out of paper dolls, you can always have the children make more at the beginning of class time, as you are waiting for everyone to arrive, or at the end, when you are waiting for the parents to come!

Coloring Page